If I'm understanding correctly, I'm supposed to be able to replace anything on my autons in the bay, so long as it falls within their power and weight limits. However, the only thing I'm actually able to swap out is armor. I cannot replace their weapons, shields, or devices. All three of these give the message: "You can remove your _____ and replace it with a _____. Unfortunately, we cannot remove your _____."

Even armor swapping works strangely. The stock configuration on several autons includes armor that is supposedly too heavy for them to be wearing.

Squadron commands for autons are also troublesome. I cannot order them all to return to the bay at once, as I ought to be able to do. Instead I have to select each one individually and give the order many times.

I'm up to Saint Kat's, where I just got some battle autons, so things are looking up. However, I have trouble imagining these autons working at all once I get 5 or 6 systems further, particularly without being able to modify them. And as far as I know, these are the best models available from auton dealers.

My impulse is to forget about the autons as a main strategy and try to play more like a freighter, but that would mean giving up the gimmick. It looks like autons are a lot more viable in Elemental Shift, so perhaps making a new game when that beta comes out would make more sense than continuing this one?

One other minor point which I've seen brought up before: a short-ranged blast weapon is a strange choice for this ship. If it's going to start with a level 4 omni weapon, I would make it a Partisan turret.

The device swap thing is a bug. Same as the 'BM cant swap better devices 1.8b4' Ministry ticket.

You can install a device but not replace one. eg, the TX3 can have a weapon or collimator installed because it has an empty slot but you can't then replace that installed device.

Probably caused by a small code change in 1.8b4.

There are a heap of auton improvement ideas around. You will see an improved auton bay but it takes a lot of time to rewrite, test and release the code. Often other code needs to be rewitten as well to add features. An example would be to use the dock service screens for the auton device changes. All the dock service screens would need modification to allow objects other than the playership to use them. And there are quite a few of those screens. So it takes time. But, like 1.8 vs 1.7, the result will be excellent and worth it.

NMS has released a heap of auton improving mods. I recommend giving them a try. They are really good.

Thanks, relanat. But nearly all the changes to the auton bay my mods made are in the current betas of the core game now. Maybe I'll take a look at why it's not working in this release. The way armor limits are defined has changed recently, and some armors were rebalanced, so some autons may need to switch armor types or have their limits changed. But it sounds like that's not the main problem.

I think currently squadron commands have to be hard-coded in the engine, so only formation and common commands appear. But it could probably be changed to show all commands any wingman can accept. My mod Com Groups helps with this, allowing you to send any command to all your combat or non-combat wingmen and autons.

The Moskva 11 is only level 3, so it needs a significant drawback to compensate for having omni and blast damage.The RK15 is way too strong for a starting weapon. Since I improved AI aiming, the Defender auton you start with is pretty good against enemy gunships and the Moskva 11 is decent against stations, as long as they're not too dangerous to get close. But since the Constellation has better turning than a freighter, maybe the level 3 non-omni AK15 would be better.